"I Just Work Here"

Don't blame Yoo 

Professor John Yoo spoke to my War & National Security Law class yesterday. For those of you who don’t know, John Yoo was a Justice Department attorney at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He was responsible for drafting advisory memos concerning Geneva Convention applicability to Taliban fighters and Al Qaeda members. He advised the president on this narrow question: Do captured members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda deserve prisoner of war protections?

Yoo was also responsible for writing the “torture memo” that has become so very controversial lately. The quick and dirty summary: the law says that physical torture is pain inflicted that is equal to severe physical injury, like that of organ failure, and/or death. Mental torture is any threat against a family member or loved one, severe humiliation, or anything that would cause a reasonable person to lose their mind.

Considering the memo’s draconian definition of torture, it is not hard to see why so many people have had their undies in a bunch. My undies, in fact, were bunched at various times in the last couple of months. With the backdrop of administration stonewalling and the President’s general cavalier attitude, the memo appeared to be one more example of another individual in our government haphazardly kicking our civil liberties around in the name of security.

But I was waaaaay off. Professor Yoo is one of the most thoughtful and intelligent people I have ever had the privilege of hearing speak. It is clear that he only did his job. He did not have a choice, when the White House comes knocking at your office door you answer it if you want to keep your job.

Again, his job was to advise the President on the current state of the law, to interpret the law, and to apply the facts (as they were told to him) to the law. Like any attorney, he was not to pass moral judgment, just explain the applicable law to the client (the President). It was not about determining the appropriate policy, not about what was “right,” but as detective Joe Friday made famous “just the facts sir, just the facts.”

So don’t blame Professor Yoo. If you’re appalled with the state of American policy concerning the treatment of detainees, and you should be, contact your legislators – it’s their responsibility to change the law. Professor Yoo, he just called it like he saw it.